Luciano L'Abate (September 19, 1928 – April 8, 2016) was an Italian psychologist who worked in the United States.
He was the father of relational theory and author, co-author, editor or co-editor of more than 55 books in the field of American psychology.
He came (1948) to the US as an exchange student under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee to Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas from which he graduated with high honors in two years with majors in English and Psychology (1950).
After working for two years as a clinical psychologist at the Pitt County Health Department (Greenville, NC) and teaching in the extension division of East Carolina College (now University) (1956–57), he received a USPHS postdoctoral fellowship in child psychotherapy at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois (1958–59).
[1] After this training, he became assistant professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri (1959–64).
Lectured extensively in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Spain, and Italy.
In 1992 invited Keynote Speaker for the 10th Anniversary Conference of the Japanese Association of Family Psychology at Showa Women's University (Tokyo), giving additional workshops on prevention for the Yasuda Life Welfare Foundation of Japan, and one workshop on “Love and Intimacy” for the Tokyo Family Therapy Institute.
Invited to lecture at the Universities of Bari and Padova (Italy) in July 1994 and as keynote speaker for the Second International Congress of Family Psychology.
In October 2000, he lectured and gave workshops to mental health organizations and educational institutions in Warsaw, Kraków, Lublin, Poznan, and Rzeszow, Poland.
In June 2002 and December 2003, he lectured in various clinical institutions in and around Milan, Italy, the Catholic University of Milan, and the Universities of Padua and Bari, as well as professional, post-graduate schools in Mestre (Venice) and Florence.
He gave workshops at a counseling convention in Milan and in a post-doctoral specialization program in Prato.
He was featured as main speaker at a Symposium at the University of Bari on “Science, Mind, and Creativity” sponsored by the Graduate School and the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Psychiatry.
On October 10, 2008, he was the keynote speaker for the Second Conference on Wellness & Writing Connections in Atlanta, Georgia.
He served as a consultant to Cross-Keys Counseling Center in Forest Park, GA from 1978 to 1998.
From 1993 to 1998, he was a Clinical Director for Multicultural Services in a mental health center for ethnic communities developed jointly by Cross Keys Counseling Center and a local Presbyterian church (Doraville, GA).
After retirement from clinical practice (December 1998), he has taught one course on Personal Writing for senior citizens, and was a volunteer with the Diversification Program of DeKalb County Juvenile Court from 1999 to 2003.
Of particular significance is his Relational Competence Theory: Research and Mental Health Applications (1st Edition) by Luciano L'Abate, Claudia Scilletta, Mario Cusinato, Walter Colesso, Eleonora Maino Hardcover - June 2010.
Prior to his death he was involved in full-time writing and research and lectured internationally, most recently in Tokyo, Japan in August 2013.
Dr. L'Abate died April 8, 2016, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.[2] Awarded the 1983 GSU Alumni Distinguished Professorship in the School of Arts and Sciences.
In 1986 received the “Outstanding Achievement and Service” award by the Tabor College Alumni Association.
In 2009 Dr. L’Abate received the APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research from the American Psychological Association.
Author and coauthor of over 300 papers, chapters, and book reviews in professional and scientific journals.
His work has been translated into Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French-Canada, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Spanish languages.
New York: Brunner/Mazel (translated into Chinese, Finnish, German, Japanese, Polish, and Italian).
Family psychology II: Theory, therapy, enrichment, and training, Washington, D. C. : University Press of America.
Published also as: Le risorse della famiglia: Prevenzione primaria e secondaria con famiglie.
Improving intimate relationships: Integration of theoretical models with preventions and psychotherapy applications.
Low-cost interventions to promote physical and mental health: Theory, research, and practice, New York: Springer.
With Mario Capitelli, Piero De Giacomo, & Savino Longo (Eds).
With Lisa Hooper, Giovanna Gianesini, Peter J. Jankowski, and Laura Gail Sweeney.